Future in limbo for men's eights coach Mike Spracklen

ETON-DORNEY — Malcolm Howard answers the question about Mike Spracklen with a question of his own.

“Have you ever read Ken Dryden’s book, The Game?” asks the Canadian rower.

His interrogator nods in the affirmative.

In the book, Dryden, the goalie of the great Canadiens’ dynasty in the late 1970s, describes Scotty Bowman. “And that’s Mike,” Howard continues. “He’s the Scotty Bowman of rowing. A lot of people don’t like him but you can’t argue with the results. You can’t argue with what he produces. It’s hard sometimes. He was hard on us after the heat, but those are the exact words we needed to hear.”

As Howard speaks, an Olympic silver medal hangs from his neck as a nifty souvenir from his latest adventure with the 74-year-old rowing coach. That medallion will serve as a handsome companion piece to Howard’s gold medal from Beijing in 2008, another memento of his time with Spracklen.

“If this doesn’t vindicate him, nothing will,” said Brian Price, the cox of the crew who’s been with Spracklen through three Olympics.

And after all this time and all those medals, you’d think that would be the case. But it’s never that easy with Spracklen, which is why he remains one of the most successful coaches in Canadian Olympic history as well as one of the most divisive.

The inspirational silver-medal performance of Spracklen’s heavyweight men’s eight in London is simply the latest instalment in a career that has produced Olympic champions the way Honda produces cars. In his five decades of Olympic coaching, he’s handled 13 medal winners, including four champions. Those numbers include two gold, four silver and a bronze for Canadian rowers over five Olympics which, theoretically, means they should be building a statue of Spracklen somewhere.

Following London, however, there are no guarantees for the veteran coach. As much as he’s delivered results for Canadian rowers, his methods have come under fire. Just two years before these Games, Rowing Canada ordered a review of his coaching methods and overhauled the Canadian heavyweight rowing program. Spracklen, of course, believes the only review should be his medals and he’s made his feelings on the “rowing authority” — as he calls Rowing Canada — abundantly clear.

“In an ideal world we’ll have the best coaches, and it could include Mike, to move the program forward,” said Cookson. “We’re going to have all those conversations after the Olympics.”

In that case, they’d do well to remember the performance of the men’s heat.

In their first heat of the Olympic regatta, Spracklen’s crew finished last in a four-boat heat and looked as capable of medalling as flying to Jupiter. The next day, at a fairly heated team meeting, the normally mild-mannered Spracklen went full-Vince-Lombardi on his crew, explaining in precise and pointed language where they’d gone wrong and how they’d correct it.

“It took some incredible coaching by Mike Spracklen to put us back on track,” said Howard. “Pardon my language, but he knew when to be an a--hole. He got us straight and focused. Guys came out of that meeting really hurting. But it was the right thing to do.”

The problem, apparently, was that the Canadians were eager to match the speed of the powerful Germans, who would go on to win gold, and only succeeded in burning themselves out after the first 1,000 metres.

Spracklen was asked about Howard’s characterization.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been that aggressive,” he said. “I told them it was silly. It was like school kids kicking a ball. You don’t expect that in the Olympics. I wasn’t going to achieve anything by being nice because that’s the way we’ve always been.”

And Spracklen is all about achievement. His guys, as is the way with virtually every successful coach in sports, swear by him. His detractors, on the other hand, see a master manipulator and something of an egomaniac.

Adam Kreek, who won a gold with Spracklen in Beijing, sees both.

“Mike’s competitive nature sets him in conflict with his fellow coaches and administrators,” Kreek wrote in an email. “He has low political skill and does not play well with others.”

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